Dewan and Kennat
Dewan (UCC DWN) and Kennat (UCC KNT) are recently formed cities. They are where a large portion of practical sciences are formed, and the two are now almost entirely dependent on each other. Location The two cities are on the edge of their own little slice of Terra Alta called Efrafe, measuring roughly 90 × 133 km. They are near the Lightwater-fed Lake Ocfos and a hole to the Shadowlands known as the Dewan Discontinuity. The two are connected by the Indren. A road running roughly in a straight line, known as the Avenue of Partnership, connects the two cities' town halls, and they are connected to the rest of Efrafe by the South Road, which is a little bit misnamed because the twin cities are on the north side of Efrafe. History The two cities are formed roughly −961 (DWN) and −944 (KNT) on two continuities, then called Asa and Efrafe. Because of their isolated positions, they are saved from a lot of invasions; not only that, they have access to a lot of endemic creatures that challenge the thought of many a philosopher in the region, allowing scientific thought to flourish. This is not always good, as the Autonomy Debates prove; at times, relationships are strained to the point where tiny wars occurred. Although formed on separate continuities, various floatquakes then brought the two cities together at or around −444. While at first, the new land bridge seems to jeopardize what's left of the strained relationship, the result was quite surprising, as diplomats on both sides found fault in their reasoning due to different conditions they used to posit in. The two decide that what they did when they were ignorant of the other's situation is kind of wrong, and left it at that. During −223, the two cities are held by a giant dry spell no thanks to the miniature Ice Age caused by expansion of icebergs past the Artic Corridor. Food supplies dropped severely and the two are forced to cooperate. Once more their interdependence is displayed and a new road was built to commemorate this occasion: the Avenue of Partnership. Dewan and Kennat, while never uniting physically, basically act as one. Even the two city halls are connected – not just through the Avenue but also through a system called the Decwhipsmuds, or DKWPSMDS. What the Decwhipsmuds are is explained later. Layout The two cities are both rectangular constructions, and none of the roads are not aligned east-west or north-south save for Riverside Drive, which runs along Lake Ocfos' shore. The two are connected by the Avenue of Partnership, and newer avenues are to be built in the near future, sometime 37. The DKWPSMDS The Decwhipsmuds' full name, Dewan-Kennat Water-Powered Secure Message Delivery System, gives some idea on what it is: a couple of colored marbles, representing an encoded message, are thrown down a tube embedded in the Indren (for downstream relay) or a tube under the Indren (for upstream relay). Gravity allows the downstream marbles to zip down; the downstream water also powers a paddle wheel that pulls the thing up. This system is again not perfected. There are plans for the Dec to be expanded, and having an automatic marble selection system built on each side for faster carrying, secrecy becoming less of an issue as their language, , is proving quite difficult for outsiders to learn. See the Romanization for why. On the other hand, while citizens from both cities understand Simplified Freetext well, they take much more time to learn it than other people. Its traditional form takes longer yet. Culture The two cities are rather insular, though not xenophobic. They understand they need Efrafe as well as each other for survival, though with other continuities they are not so confident. The Shadowlands are the least important of them all, at least in their eyes, and contain relatively little things of interest. The two continue to make contact with other continuties, thanks to the (ahem) acquired stoneships. They hope to at least have some viable tributary states at least. Category:Locations